System Scribe Academy Book 1 - Chapters 71,72,73,74,75 (Patreon)

Chapter 71

Farewell, Alex

The town of Stoutforge was tiny. There was a road somewhere to the west the group had missed, but after finding their way to the packed dirt path, they traveled north for only a half-hour before finally setting eyes on the quaint place. There was a scatter of buildings, which ranged in styles from all-wood constructions to some mixed materials. Most interesting of all was the amount of traffic that traveled upon that road. It was forged by the footsteps of colonists, all here to tame the wild northlands of some duchy.

Nate wasn’t exactly the talkative type. Not at first. But once he had a few drinks in him, he was more eager to share what was going on in his world. He was a rancher, which set off alarm bells in Ethan’s head. Not only that, but he was something of a local authority, like a sheriff, which made him the one in charge of keeping things like the anomalies, dungeons, and even something as impressive as a tower at bay. He had only come to investigate the anomaly when he had detected the Anomalous Materials Group on site.

The local townsfolk were rowdy at times, although they might’ve been showing their butts because of visitors. Otherwise, the group’s stay at the town was pleasant. But with nightfall coming closer, the only thing Ethan could think about was missing his class in the morning. A drunk, and reluctant Alex led them off toward the point where the Herald would send them back to Whisperwood. There, they could take the Gate back to Tal’vengar, and eventually home.

“Did you hear the titles he gave out?” Ethan asked. “Seems like that guy would be an excellent authority on history. How old is he?”

“Who knows?” Luna asked. 

“I’ve read his book.” Alex’s mood hadn’t improved since they had stopped drinking. “If you can get past all the maidens he claimed he bedded, it seems… plausible. There’s some stuff in there that’s so unbelievable, you have to wonder.”

“Interesting,” Finn said, rubbing his chin. “What is the name of this book? So that I can avoid it.”

Alex punched Finn in the leg, shaking his head. “You know, you guys can come visit me out here.”

“Do you really have to leave today?” Ethan asked.

“No, but I’d rather not draw it out. I’ve got a post in this world. And the main system here is M-228, same as mine.” Alex let out a drawn-out sigh. “I wasn’t even born over in Whisperwood, but… Well, I can’t help but think I should move there when my current post is up.”

“What are you going to be doing?” Ethan asked.

“I’m not really sure. Guess we’re going to find out.”

The rest of the walk back to the rendezvous point was almost completely silent. Only the sound of their booted feet dragging against the dirt road echoed over the darkening hills. Ethan wasn’t sure where his emotions were on the matter. On the one hand, he barely knew Alex. They had been acquaintances for how long? A month and a week? The storm of feelings brewing in his chest, dragging his spirit down like a lead weight, didn’t even seem deserved. Yet as they reached their destination, he couldn’t stop his eyes from watering.

“Allergies,” Ethan lied, offering a stifled chuckle to his companions. “Damn you, alien ragweed!”

“Seriously, Alex. Wouldn’t you consider coming back to the academy? We’ll send you off properly.” Luna held her composure.

Unlike Finn, who was openly sobbing. “C’mon man!” was all he could get out.

“Nah. I’d have to listen to him cry about it.” Alex patted the man on the back. “We all knew this would happen. I’m not dying, by the way.”

“I’ll set up a communication crystal for you.” Luna said the words with conviction, balling her fists. “You might not be part of the Anomalous Materials Group in a physical sense, but we could still use your knowledge. The benefactors have to see that fact. I won’t accept anything else but your partial participation.”

“Yep. That’s right.” Alex nodded, a sad look spreading across his features. “Fight the power, Luna. You’re in charge now. Don’t let Finn write poetry about this. And make sure Ethan follows a decent path. We all know that kid has a lot of potential with his class, so don’t let him squander it.”

“I won’t,” Luna assured him.

“I think we’re the same age,” Ethan said with a shrug.

“Nah. I’m much older.” Alex turned away from them, his gaze locked on the brilliant colors of orange and purple spreading across the horizon. Darkness threatened to settle over the no-name region on some far-off planet.

Ethan couldn’t wrap his mind around it at first. Alex was going off into the unknown with only the clothes on his back. Maybe he had a dimensional storage bag on him, but it still seemed scary. Then he remembered his own situation. He had been ripped from Earth without his consent, hurled into some position of power and told to do his best. This was no different. It was just another step in Alex’s path, and the sooner he put his foot out the door, the sooner he could get going with his new life.

Luna would make good on her promise. Ethan could tell by the way the stars in her eyes shifted that she fully intended to get the communication thingy working. But no one said anything else. A faint popping sound meant the Herald had appeared somewhere nearby. And it didn’t take long for the self-important lord of this world to make himself known.

“What a splendid job!” he shouted, clapping from afar. “The little one is staying here, right?”

“Correct,” Alex said without even turning around.

“I’ll join you again after I drop the kids off in Whisperwood. Are you folks ready to depart?”

Luna, Ethan, and Finn all nodded their heads silently. The Herald clapped once more, the air swirling around them. One moment they were standing, watching the back of their companion heave, and the next they were standing on the streets of Whisperwood. The sound of the wind blowing through the trees overhead seemed like a song compared to the silence. The scribe couldn’t stop the tears running down his cheeks, but something caught his attention.

That pleasant sound of leaves rustling overhead stopped. Instead, he heard only the beat of his own heart, loud in his ears. Stealing a glance at Luna and Finn, he saw them frozen mid-motion. Finn was collapsing and Luna was moving toward the large Gate to secure their passage home. And the Herald stood sentry, arms folded as he tutted.

“I thought one aberrant in my sector was enough.” The Herald had an edge to his voice. His flinty tone put Ethan on guard. “System Scribe, huh? Are you interacting directly with the system?”

“Excuse me?” Ethan said, looking around at the frozen world.

The Herald walked over, pressing a finger into Ethan’s chest. “We had a problem with the system before. There were issues that arose during the Schism. When the local sector was released, exposed to the full power of the Grand System, we thought everything was fixed. Unfortunately, the Warriors that defended this place had already gone. Great minds that could fix just about anything… poof!”

“How does this involve me, my lord?” Ethan asked.

It took him only milliseconds to realize that fighting back against this “Herald” wasn’t a good idea. He didn’t like ‌being accused of something, and he certainly didn’t like someone in his personal space. What he liked less than those things was being exploded, or chopped into bits. So, as he had dealt with the gods, he put on his best smile and bowed his head.

“Someone snatched you from Earth during the Breach.” The Herald tapped his chin, spinning on the spot. “I’m guessing it was King Leon. Did he expect you to get the class, or did he force it on you? Perhaps there’s some deal I’m not a part of. Either way, you have a very important job.”

“What job is that?” Ethan asked, his head still bowed. “I’m already aware of my unique skill. As far as I know, I’m the only one that can fix the local systems.”

“Exactly right. That anomaly you fixed, would you like to know something interesting about it?”

“Yes, that would be nice. More information is always better, after all.” Ethan kept his tone as cheerful, but respectful as he could.

“I couldn’t fix it. Even the Emperor of the Moon couldn’t fix it.”

“The emperor of…”

“Indeed, the brightest minds at my disposal couldn’t fix it.” The Herald let out a dramatic sigh. “Then you sweep in and make it all better in a moment.”

Ethan’s mind reeled as he thought about the situation. So, there had been others that tried to fix the anomalies. Maybe even Nate had tried his hand at it, and failed. It was easy enough to remove the energy from an anomaly, but this one was different. The scribe doubted if anyone would’ve been able to put it into a state of inactivity for long. No, it required the hand of a System Scribe to remove it entirely. Meaning there was only one person alive that could’ve tackled the problem.

“I’m happy to serve.” Ethan did his best to keep the smile off his face, but it was hard. And it bled into his voice.

“Hah! You have a right to be smug about that. Unique classes like this are insanely valuable.” The Herald hummed to himself for a moment, but eventually let out a wistful sigh. “I’m sorry about your friend leaving you. I’ve talked with him extensively, and I have to say… he’s wasting his potential.”

“You think so?” Ethan asked, looking up for the first time in a while. The Herald was looking off into the distance, taking a deep breath through his nose.

“People like him aren’t unique. They find a comfortable niche and plant their butts firmly where they’re happy.” The Herald shook his head in disappointment. “But those people will only grow if they are tossed into the fire. They won’t take the first step, but once they have their feet in, there’s no stopping them.”

Ethan couldn’t help but see himself in that remark. “Is that advice more for me than for Alex?”

“Indeed it is. Never allow yourself to be happy with the progress you’ve made. Keep pushing until your fingers bleed. Rip your mind apart until you’re at the edge of insanity, then pull yourself back.” The Herald paused for a few long, tense moments. “Well, that might be dramatic. Not everyone needs to throw themselves into hell for a thousand years the way I did.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow to question that.

“True story,” the Herald said with a wink. “Anyway, my powers of time dilation are limited. I’ll ring your group if I need any more help. Of course, I look forward to working with you.”

Ethan stumbled to the side as the world came back as a rush of sound, colors, and smell. He hadn’t realized how dull the area around him had grown in the moments he spent within the time dilation space.

“Did you get any of that, bracelet?” Ethan asked.

“No. This unit does not wish to draw the ire of a time god.”

“Good call…”

“Ethan, keep up!” Finn shouted.

Ethan put a bit of pep in his step. The second time going through the Herald’s teleportation wasn’t so bad. A few purposeful strides later, he had already caught up with his friends. As the Anomalous Materials Group approached the Gate that would bring them back to their planet, the head position of the formation looked awfully strange. Luna donned the mantle of their de facto leader. None of the remaining members knew how long it would take them to fill the emotional void. Perhaps they didn’t want to fill it.

Maybe three was enough.

Ethan wiped away the last of his tears before he stepped through the portal. Voidspace travel was a lot worse with a new hole in his heart.

Chapter 72

Mind Ring

Returning to Gale House was… weird. The whole affair on Erradon was weird. If it wasn’t the sensation of traveling through Voidspace, or being suddenly transported from one point on the planet to another by the Herald, it was the loss of Alex from the Anomalous Materials Group. Then there was the fact that Ethan was truly behind on his classes, even if he learned some illuminating facts about stacking arrays and the useful cheat his bracelet could now provide.

Things just felt strange.

“I’m going to the tavern,” Finn said, waving the other two off.

Ethan and Luna were left there in the Silver City, gazing at the spires and truly both questioning what to do next. Obviously, she would be the leader of the Anomalous Materials Group, and the workload spread between them grew significantly.

“So, what? Are we going to recruit another person?” Ethan asked with a shrug. “Or do we just pray that less anomalies pop up?”

Luna released a heavy sigh. The stars in her eyes shifted, growing cloudy. “I’m unsure. I need time to process this.”

And there was nothing else to say. Ethan watched as Luna departed, leaving him to find the local Gate to return home. He wouldn’t think about the way that day and night had synchronized between Tal’vengar and Erradon. But there was a bright side. His Mind Ring was practically singing that it was about to roll over to Rank 2. His bracelet was more powerful than ever, with some seriously impressive processing power and storage. For him, things were going much better.

On his way back to Gale House, Ethan worked with his bracelet to study the material he had neglected for his class tomorrow morning. Cheating was one thing, and it would’ve been decently easy, but he wanted to expand the space in his cottage. He went through the information he had on his bracelet for the subject, drilling the concepts of ritual circle details and symbol-lacing. Lacing symbols into arrays was hard, and he was a long way from getting that down.

But a mobile study aid was pretty sweet. And the bracelet even had some insight on things, revealing that it was more than just raw processing. As long as it didn’t go Skynet on him, everything was cool.

“Well, you’re a latecomer.” Avalara floated in the kitchen, shaking her head with a knowing look. “Seems like more than the weight of work rests on your shoulders.”

“Well…” Ethan jumped onto the sofa without taking his shoes off. He stared at the ceiling, wondering if today was the day to process all those feelings. “The Anomalous Materials Group lost its leader. I met the Herald. Learned a bit about ritual magic.”

“Sounds like a full day.”

“No kidding.”

Silence settled into the room for too long. Avalara finally spoke. “Amelia said you wouldn’t rest, and you didn’t.”

Ethan winced. “Yeah, I think I messed up.”

“Since I’m already haunting you, I’ll remind you to take breaks.”

“Sounds good.”

Was it even possible to take a break at this point? Ethan wouldn’t say it out loud, but it was hard to say if anyone in the Anomalous Materials Group would have a hard time going forward. If only the rulers of this world could snap their fingers and fix all the anomalies…

“Get some rest.” Avalara waved her spectral hand. “Barry is already snoring away.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll do just that.”

***

Morning came too early, but Ethan felt energized after getting some extra sleep. Mercifully, Ritual Foundations 1 was at 10, which gave him a lot of time to wake up. Since Amelia had a different class, the scribe picked Avalara’s brain about rituals. She wasn’t as knowledgeable about the topic, but both he and Barry needed a crash-course on the topic before the flying dog they had as a teacher was the harshest teacher around.

The yappy little thing.

“So, layers?” Barry asked, scratching his head. “We just put little symbols in the lines?”

Ethan sighed heavily. “I think. I worked on this array yesterday, a Rank 2 array, and the name of the game was layers. Maybe I should’ve studied this more, but… Yeah. Making something more advanced in spellcraft is all about adding ‘layers’ and layers for rituals means little symbols.”

Dragging his Celestial Pen through the air, Ethan drew an example. It wasn’t part of a real array, but he drew two lines. In between the two lines, he sketched tiny sigils. They were mostly control-style sigils, or generally ones that had supportive properties. Their purpose wasn’t to add anything to the spell. They were meant to reinforce the structure of the spell, allowing for more power, increasing mana flow, and so on. Of course, a person could add more parts to the ritual array by adding more sigils, circles, or whatever.

But this wasn’t about the basics. It was about building more powerful ritual arrays to pass the psychotic puppy’s requirements to earn her seal of approval.

“I think I get it.” Barry used a bit of parchment and charcoal to plop down a decent representation of the concept. “The purpose of this is… reinforcing a ritual array for long-lasting and more potent effects?”

“Something like that. Hey, bracelet, what did the books say about that?” Ethan asked.

“Processing… The purpose of reinforced ritual arrays is to bridge the gap between Rank 1 and 2 rituals within the X-13 system. Reinforcing an array with the addition of sigils in the linework increases the flow of mana, which increases both the power, output, and robustness of a ritual array.”

“Which makes you wonder how long-lasting a ritual can be.” Ethan, of course, selfishly thought of making his house bigger.

“Yeah, I didn’t hear a word of what your bracelet said.” Barry shook his head.

“Project that information.” Ethan fell back into his thoughts while his bracelet projected the information into the air. “I don’t think this is actually too hard.”

“It shouldn’t be.” Avalara floated into view, shaking her head as she watched Barry read the information. “Mastery of this material normally takes a longer time…”

Barry snorted a laugh. “But we’re just geniuses, so we’re sailing through.”

“Not to inflate your ego… but, yes. I think you might be slightly better than Ethan at this, Barry.” Avalara truly didn’t seem as though she was trying to take sides, and the scribe didn’t blame her.

“Nah, this is nothing. Memorizing intricate shapes? That’s my territory.”

Ethan hummed, nodding. “Yeah, you’re extremely talented with this stuff. Actually, your mana control is kinda insane, too.”

“I’m just well-rounded.” Barry winked, shooting up. “Come on. We can’t miss breakfast.”

One thing was certain. They’d need to do some serious study groups like this if they wanted to keep up with classes. From Ethan’s estimations, most students in his Ritual Foundations 1 class would get a “pass” from Professor Eggs. But in the coming months, he wondered if he could work with Barry to elevate almost all of them to the professor’s seal of approval. Perhaps not every student, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying.

The good news as that breakfast was awesome, and the class wasn’t even that hard. There was only so much the flying yapper could go over before she was covering the same material again. As far as Rank 1 ritual arrays went, there was only so much complexity they could cover before themes repeated. Adding sigils to the linework of the arrays was about as difficult as it got without adding that other layer for the Rank 2 rituals. By the end of the class, Ethan was feeling much better about his chances of keeping up.

“Feels like she’s out of material.” Barry stretched as he walked with Ethan down the street.

“Just remember: we’re getting this quicker than the others. We gotta make sure they can grasp the material.”

Barry chuckled, clearing his throat when he sensed the vibe was off. “Sorry. It just doesn’t seem that hard.”

Ethan tutted. “I think our backgrounds are helping us a lot. Just keep that in mind, and attend the remedial sessions we talked about.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t have to remind me.” Barry stretched, and it was clear that he was working very hard on his private project. “Almost got my baby running again. Blew out the engine of my War Rig taking Amelia for a joyride.”

“Showboating? I didn’t take you for the braggart type.”

“With guns like these…” Barry flexed. “Ya gotta brag.”

For the rest of the week, Ethan set his sights on goals he could accomplish with ease. The trip to Erradon had been far more illuminating than he had expected, and his knowledge of rituals and arrays skyrocketed. With the concept of drilling the basics into the ground in mind, he spent every moment walking from here to there staring at his bracelet’s projections. He committed things to memory through repetition, and focused only on the anomalies in the city that would be easiest to solve. The result was that by Wednesday night, he had expanded his base of knowledge out far enough to finally approach Amelia.

The woman was, of course, more than willing to help with the ritual circle. There were issues, according to her. Especially considering that his intended use would be to adapt a ritual array, which was normally a temporary thing, to be long-term.

“That’s more of an enchantment,” Amelia said.

The pair sat down for dinner. It was the night before the first meeting of the Anomalous Materials Group and Ethan was dreading the morning. Any distraction was welcome, but the thing that drew most of his focus was the swelling of mana in his chest. His Mind Ring was ready to flip over. With a thought, he knew he could create the second ring, which would have a doubling effect on his maximum mana, and a significant effect on his overall mana control.

Yet he delayed.

“Enchantments, huh?” Ethan asked, tapping his chin. “How long do you think it’d take me to learn how to do an enchanment.”

Amelia gave him a flat look. It was the same look he got when asking Luna how to usurp long-held traditions in her sect. It was the look of someone annoyed that he was prepared to cheat. Eventually, she sighed.

“Just head over the Feyhammer. Steal their techniques, and you’ll have an enchantment by Monday.” Amelia waved a lazy hand. “Gods know you shouldn’t shun shortcuts just because they make you look like a weak little boy.”

“Hey!” Ethan tried to be mad about it, but of course he wasn’t happy about jumping the line. “I try my best to understand this material, y’know?”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, big cheater pants.”

Ethan could only smile, and he was very happy when she changed the topic to her research. Amelia wasn’t a slouch. Perhaps it was no coincidence that the scribe’s inner-circle of friends were all exceptional people who didn’t have to worry about remedial classes. He was just happy that each of them put themselves forward to help those who fell behind. Like good Gale House students, they were helping any chance they could.

After splitting for the night, Ethan returned home and fell onto his sofa. He felt the energies in his soul swirling, like a torrent of power was ready to flood out at any moment. He took a deep breath. Even when just the thought of expanding his Mind Ring came to the front, he could feel it expanding. It gained a depth he could’ve never imagined. One moment he was gazing at the ceiling, idly listening to Avalara as she hummed somewhere distant. The next, he was contended with the most amount of pain he had experienced in his life.

Gritting his teeth, Ethan pushed through. His Mind Ring split inside his chest, seeming to fracture for a moment before the Rank 2 version appeared just below it. It felt as though all the mana in his chest drained away in an instant, leaving the vast pool in his chest feeling more like an evaporating puddle. Sweat covered his body as the processed finished, leaving him feeling drained.

“Let’s not do that again,” Ethan breathed, dabbing his forehead with his robes.

“You certainly look like a lighthouse of power.” Avalara floated nearby, pressing a cold, spectral hand against his forehead. “I can’t feel you, so I don’t know if you have a fever.”

As expected, his Attribute Ring screen had updated.

[Attribute Rings]

Strength 1

Agility 2 (System Leap)

Dexterity 1

Vigor 1 (Clean Body)

Endurance 1

[Affinity Ring]

[Mind Ring]

Without hesitation, he slotted the sigil for Lesser Mana Siphon into his Rank 2 Mind Ring and smiled to himself. It was slotted as the Rank 2 version, which was just called Mana Siphon. He focused, drawing in a deep breath. Visible streams of mana flowed into him, touching his soul and immediately converting to Celestial mana. The amount he pulled in at once was at least double what he had been bringing before, filling his vast pool of mana quicker than expected.

“That was rather impressive.” Avalara stood at a distance, tilting her head to one side.

“Which one is next?” Ethan asked, tapping his chin. He couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “Agility, or Vigor?”

“Push yourself. Why not both?”

“Weren’t you the one telling me to take a break?”

Avalara scoffed at that. “Are you going to take a break? Or are you going to push yourself harder?”

Ethan laughed. “Good point.”

Chapter 73

Boneweald

The only thing Ethan could do to keep his mind off the meeting was cultivation techniques. That’s what he called the family of methods involving mana manipulation, whether it was the infusion of his bracelet with pure mana, or his rings. Both helped him think about anything else as he approached Pal’vengar Spire 1, where the meeting of the Anomalous Materials Group would be held without their leader for the first time since he arrived at the school.

When he cracked the door open, he only heard silence. He stopped siphoning the massive amount of mana into his bracelet, an amount that had resulted in some seriously good gains in a short time, and met the shifting eyes of Luna. She stood, arms folded on the far side of the room with an uneasy look on her face.

“We’re just waiting on Finn.” That was all she said for a long time.

Ethan found his way to a seat, and sat in silence for quite some time. Eventually, Finn arrived in a sour mood. He plopped onto a sofa with a book in his hand, seeming to refuse to engage with the other members of the group. Eventually, Luna clapped her hands.

“We all knew it was gonna happen!” she shouted, making Finn jump in fright. “Alex did nothing to secure his spot here, and he knew the rules. Ethan joined to replace him, and that’s that.”

“Can’t we do anything?” Ethan asked, feeling pretty powerless. “Why do we have this rule of three?”

“Yeah! Screw the system!” Finn shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Luna sighed. “Look… Maybe. But that wasn’t even the problem with Alex. His problem was that he was too lazy. If we asked the benefactors, I’m sure they’d let me stay on for a long time. I teach classes. I take classes. Even Finn is an instructor. Alex just wasn’t doing the work.”

Ethan’s knee-jerk reaction was to challenge that thought, but he knew she was right. Alex did his job with the Anomalous Materials Group just fine. But he had done almost nothing to keep his place at the academy. Instead, the scribe withdrew his tablet, sorting the jobs by “completed.” That’s where he saw just how many anomalies it had taken to get his Mind Ring up to Rank 2. And it was quite a lot.

“I’ve completed 150 jobs since last week.” Ethan surprised even himself.

“Damn. New guy stepping up.” Finn laughed. “I’ve been in a funk. Barely have 80 done.”

“I’ve done 200.” Luna added her number to the pile. “Which means, we collectively did more than we did when Alex was with us. We don’t need another member.”

Ethan tapped his chin with his tablet, shrugging eventually. That was a pretty logical way to look at it, but he could take it a step further. “There’s something about the anomalies that got me thinking. After we visited Erradon, I’ve been thinking about the world itself."

Luna crossed the room, looking down at Ethan with a serious expression. “What is it?”

Eventually, he shrugged. “Why can’t I… y’know… fix the world.”

Finn barked a laugh. “Little man with a big ego.”

“Is it an ego or… I mean, this is a class designed to fix the system. I’m not trying to be pompous, I’m just proposing solutions.” Ethan got to thinking about it more. The way he could fix classes and… A realization dawned on him. “Damn! I just thought of something!”

Finn shot up, looking over with brows furrowed. He could tell that this wasn’t boasting. “What is it?”

Ethan explained how he could patch classes. He would propose changes to a class, spell, ability, etc and the Grand System would accept or reject it. “What if I did the same thing for anomalies? Hell, what if I’ve already been doing it?”

Luna only had to think about it for a few moments before she snapped her fingers in realization. “Only one way to test it. Find two anomalies that are exactly the same, then fix one. The techniques we’ve been using for the anomalies only make them go away, but you? Yeah, I think you might be on to something.”

“Field trip?” Finn asked. “That’ll get my mind off of things.”

Luna nodded. “Yep. Okay. Our assignment for today. We need to get out there and find two anomalies—”

“No need.” Ethan held the tablet up. “We really need to get one of these for you guys, but it has all reported anomalies. I can search by type, and… Yeah, I have two right here. Water Font Anomalies. It doesn’t have a lot of updates from the other academies, but I have one in Tagata, and another in some region south of it. Boneweald.”

“Ew. Boneweald,” Finn said, making a fake puking sound. “Haunted lands aren’t fun.”

“Well, damn. What are we waiting for?” Luna asked. “Let’s get it done!”

The mood changed a bit after that. Ethan wasn’t sure if his plan would work, but he needed to try. Not only did he want to give it a go, but he wanted the theory to have the best shot at being proven true. Not only did he need to check to see if the anomaly was solvable by him, he needed to know that they were 100% the same thing. Which was kinda sketchy, seeing as the report was from Tagata Academy and not Tariat. Headmaster Vesper didn’t guarantee any of the information outside of his home academy.

It was easy enough to get to the other academy. The group hardly paid attention to the new architecture around them. Tagata had a theme of organized cities made from stone with a grid pattern of roads that made navigation effortless. Compared to Gale House, where everything seemed much more haphazard, there was a clinical efficiency to the city they visited. The entire walk, Ethan had his System Cultivation pumping, cycling between Agility and Vigor quickly enough to make him dizzy.

The group found themselves outside of the cloistered gates of the city, out onto rolling hills on a too-hot day. Groups of adventurers moved over a paved road, talking amongst themselves and shooting confused looks at the strange group.

“Yeah, we kinda stand out.” Finn laughed to himself.

But the anomaly was only a short walk away from the walls. Font-style water anomalies normally weren’t much of a problem. If anything, they could cause some minor flooding but that’s about it. So the local adventurers barely paid attention to the Water Font, passing by or splashing in the stream that had formed from it. Ethan’s job here was easy, and it didn’t take long for him to emulate a water version of the M-228 anomaly.

“Record that information, please,” Ethan said, tapping his bracelet.

“Recorded Rank -2 Mana Font,” the bracelet’s voice flooded into Ethan’s mind and he nodded.

“Okay. Time to go to Bonetown.” The scribe gestured to Luna. “I’ll follow you.”

“Ew. Don’t say that.” Luna had a look of disgust on her face. Not only did her cat-like ears fold back, but the color of her eyes shifted to a deep red.

“Never say ‘Bonetown’ again.” Finn shook his head in disappointment. “Also, my travel power sucks. So… have fun in the haunted wastes.”

Luna had a nice flying sword, but Ethan had to jump his way across the countryside. That drew more looks from the locals than anything else. But at least the new leader of the Anomalous Materials Group knew where she was going. And where they were going was obvious. It was a big blotch of brown to the southwest. A place where every single living thing seemed to have died overnight. The only problem was, the report for the water font wasn’t exact.

Ethan and Luna landed on a long, dead stretch of forest. The thing that struck the scribe was the sound of absolutely nothing. That silence made his ears ring.

“I’ll send out a mana pulse if I find something. You do the same.” Luna nodded to Ethan. “I’ve got the east, if you take the west.”

“A mana pulse. Yeah, I know exactly how to do that.”

Luna offered him a sly smile. “You’ll figure it out.”

About three hours later, Ethan was desperate to do a mana pulse. He did something he would describe as a “mana fart” or perhaps a “mana toot,” but nothing as impressive as a pulse. He tried his hand at shooting a beam of mana into the air, pooling mana in his palm and thrusting it upward. While it didn’t create a beam, a chunk of pure, celestial mana went skyward and exploded like a firework.

“Hey! That works,” Mark said, appreciating his work as sparks of mana came falling to the ground. “Maybe…”

Without waiting for Luna, Ethan got to work on the anomaly. As expected, it was an exact copy of the other font. Instead of solving it outright, he emulated the system and got to work with his pen. It wasn’t enough for him to make the thing work correctly. He needed his “code” to hit the Grand System. The bracelet ran some information, giving him some direction on where to go, but before he could push his changes, Luna showed up.

“That wasn’t a mana pulse. That was a weak mana explosion.” Luna chuckled, gesturing to the anomaly. “Any luck with that?”

Ethan nodded. “Same exact anomaly. I just need the Grand System to accept my changes, which… it should’ve already accepted them.”

“But it hasn’t,” Luna said, tapping her chin. She found a seat on the dead grass, closing her eyes for only a moment before they snapped open again. “Did you hear that?”

“No, this place is silent.” Ethan waved her off, turning his attention back to the projection made by his bracelet.

“Perhaps you should increase the pace of your work.” Luna withdrew her flying sword from nowhere, slashing it through the air a few times. “We have company.”

Before Ethan could shout a response, or poop his pants, Luna had sprung off into the rows of dead trees. “What?!” was all he managed.

Turning his attention back to the array, Ethan got to work harder. He moved the bits of the array around, assuming the Grand System wasn’t happy with his solution for a universal fix. He dropped the emulation and picked it up again a few times, rearranging the arrays until it was so perfect, his bracelet gave it a “no flaws” stamp of approval.

“Come on! What do you want?” Ethan asked, punching the ground in frustration. He turned, hearing the sound of something hollow striking against something else. Daring to crane his neck, he spotted Luna for only a moment. She flitted between trees, sword flashing as she removed the head of a skeleton. A walking, shambling, haunted-ass skeleton. “Seriously!?”

Luna popped her head from behind a tree. “What did you expect in the haunted forest?”

Ethan grumbled, checking his spells before getting back to work. He closed his eyes, desperate to focus. The difference between his approach with the font anomalies and a person’s class system was the approach. He had already figured that part out. With a deep breath to clear his mind, he focused on that concept. The scribe wasn’t fixing the anomaly to make it go away. That concept was locked in his mind as he emulated the system one last time, rearranging the sigils.

“Grand system,” he said, once again closing his eyes. “I’m patching the whole thing. Not just this one anomaly, but all of this variant. I need it to go through for all variants, got it?”

To Ethan’s surprise, he felt a twitch of recognition from… somewhere. He watched as the symbols illuminated one-by-one. With one last deep breath, he watched the entire thing glow with a brilliant prismatic light.

“System Barrier, 180.” The Bracelet’s voice echoed in Ethan’s mind, but he hardly understood the context.

Until he considered it for only half a moment, realizing what he should do. With a thought, mana sparked in his Affinity Ring. A System Barrier sprung up behind him, barely catching the fetid claws of some grave-crawling field.

Ethan turned, teeth gritted as he saw the claws of the undead horror half a foot from where the back of his skull had just been. The bone-white claws crackled against the blue barrier.

“Thanks for that, bracelet.”

“This unit is simply doing its job.”

Chapter 74

Name

Ethan didn’t know what he had expected from the giant swathe of necromantic energy strewn across the landscape. It wasn’t an expectation of lollipops and candy canes, sure. But as he glared at the skeleton, currently trying to claw its way through his barrier, he knew it wasn’t this. And that led to an uncomfortably awkward situation. The scribe drew a deep breath with his Rank 2 Mana Siphon ability, filling the mana that had depleted from sustaining the spell.

“This unit laments your lack of preparation. Perhaps you should’ve created an offensive spell before coming here.”

“Oh, did you install the Snark Block?” Ethan grumbled. He stood, feeling more comfortable standing while facing the skeleton than sitting. “Don’t I have an offensive ability?”

“No.”

With a sigh, Ethan turned back to the array floating in the air. It wanted something from him, but he couldn’t give it his full attention. With a groan, he held his bracelet up. “Could you formulate an offensive spell for my Affinity ring. Something Rank 1, and something that could kill a skeleton. Please. I love you.”

“Operation started… Estimated time: 10 minutes.”

“Seems like a while…” Ethan grumbled, trailing off as he watched the skeleton.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

Ethan found it hard to clear his mind while the creature clawed at his barrier. He took a few steadying breaths, drawing on no small amount of instruction from Luna. His mind was mostly centered, or at least enough to focus on the sigils long enough to get some results. Something rushed through his chest, seeming to drain from the projection he had maintained. It flooded through his body a moment before the system message appeared.

[Water Font Anomaly Patched]

You have updated the protocol for a Water Font Anomaly. Please set a system designation for the anomaly while Grand System protocols update…

Reward:

Greatly increase breadth and depth of one Attribute Ring of your choice.

Ethan tapped his chin, trying to wrap his head around that. The skeleton slammed itself against his barrier, forcing him to draw in more mana to fuel it. Eventually, he settled on a designation for the anomaly. “Rank -1 Puddle 01,” he said, preferring to stick to a naming scheme that would allow for expansion. Another message flashed into his vision, putting an even broader smile on his face.

[Rank -1 Puddle 01 Catalogued]

The Grand System has noted the errors with Rank -1 Puddle 01 and catalogued them. Please allow time for other anomalies within Grand System bounds to update.

“Interesting… Bracelet, make a note that patching the anomaly was a matter of intent. Before, I was just doing it. But I have to do it and… mean it… I guess.”

“Noted.”

Now Ethan was locked in an awkward position. Jumping away from the skeleton was an option. It didn’t seem powerful, barely registering on his magical senses… Testing his luck, the scribe found a dead stick on the ground and cracked it over the head of the monster. While it reeled back a bit, that only seemed to fuel its desire to claw him to death.

“Projecting potential arrays. I recommend combining the Increase Gravity sigil twice. The likelihood this will produce something to destroy the skeleton is minimal. But, there’s a 50% chance this will create a spell to restrain the creature long enough for Luna to return. This unit also recommends sending up another mana bomb to attract her attention.”

Ethan looked down to the puddle, which was almost all dried up. He nodded, not really knowing what would happen if he used the same sigil twice in his Rank 1 Affinity Ring. Eventually, he shrugged those doubtful thoughts off, going into his spellcrafting screen and getting to work. To his surprise, the system didn’t care if he put the same sigil in there twice. It produced a spell right away, and he inspected it. All the while, he maintained his Rank 2 barrier.

[Lesser Extreme Gravity Field]

Affinity Ring Synergy Ability

Generated By:

Increase Gravity, Increase Gravity

Description:

Creates a field of extreme gravity. Anything within the field will experience a massive increase in gravity. Mana requirement increases with the space of the area.

Effect:

Increase gravity in a set area.

“Why not?” Ethan asked.

While most mages might have trouble casting two spells at the same time, Ethan found it almost effortless. It was as though the two rings in his Affinity Ring were operating as independent brains. He selected a small circle at the feet of the skeleton, sending a flash of mana into his Rank 1 Affinity Ring. The effect was immediate and dramatic. One moment, the skeleton was clawing at his barrier. The next, it was flattened on the ground, all the cohesion between its bones sent into disorder. It cracked, pieces of it flicking off in shards.

“Ew. How long do you figure that’ll last?” Ethan asked.

“Would you like this unit to make an estimation?”

“Go for it.” Ethan turned his attention to the skies. He gathered mana in his hand as he sent another chunk into the air. It was very satisfying to watch as it exploded, sending an unmistakable wave of power radiating in all directions.

It didn’t take long for the bracelet to finish its calculations. “The spell will hold for at least thirty minutes, perhaps more.”

Ethan nodded. That was plenty of time for Luna to find him, so he settled in and worked on his rings for a while. As he considered his rings, he instead focused on his bracelet. That had made some seriously good strides. He inspected the circuit.

Circuit:

Memory Block (15 Units).

3x Processing Block (Rank 1).

3x Processing Block( Rank 2).

Projector Block (Rank 1).

Learning…

3 Rank 2 Processing Blocks was blazing fast, and Ethan looked forward to the kind of complex instructions he’d pass on to his bracelet. The increased storage was also nice, meaning the bracelet could offload its results into storage for later use. It was learning, which meant more memory equaled more intelligent processing.

Ethan was broken from his contemplations when Luna alighted on the ground next to him. She huffed, looking down at the skeleton with disgust. “These forests are positively crawling with the undead… what happened to that one?”

“Extreme gravity field,” Ethan said as though that was a normal thing that people did. Of course, Gravity magic was pretty rare, from what he understood. “I think I mostly crushed it but you know. I’ll leave it until we go.”

“You fixed it?” Luna asked, craning her neck to see the Water Font Anomaly down to a dribbling puddle. “Did your plan work?”

Ethan nodded with excitement, gesturing to the diminishing puddle. “Yup. Not only that, but the Grand System accepted my changes. I think it should affect similar variants. Which, if you think about anomalous variants of system-based font anomalies, they’re all variants. As far as the system is concerned—”

“That’s quite enough yapping,” Luna said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Can we check on the other anomaly?”

“Oh, yeah. We might have to wait for a while, but the Grand System said the changes should propagate throughout the system.”

“Your changes should propagate throughout… what? The entire Grand System?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Luna blinked a few times, grabbing him by the shoulders and squeezing tightly. “You made a change that will ripple across the universe and you’re calm?”

Tilting his head to one side, Ethan nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right. I hadn’t really thought about it, if I’m honest.”

“We’re going to unpack that later. For now, let’s check on the other anomaly.”

The moment Ethan allowed his control over the gravity spell fade, the skeleton snapped in a strange way. He winced as he watched it put itself back together, the bones swirling into the air with a strange popping noise. It might’ve reformed itself, but the arms and legs were sitting at weird angles. Still, the undead were tough. And the scribe still had a Necromantic Anomaly to deal with.

Perhaps it was best to leave that one until it was a real problem.

While it was impossible to hear what Luna was screaming at him as they descended toward the first anomaly, Ethan assumed it had something to do with that very same descent. He landed nearby and finally heard what she was shouting.

“You didn’t touch that anomaly, did you, Finn?!”

The card-slinging man put up his hands defensively. “Hey, don’t look at me. I’ve just been chilling.”

“That actually worked.” Luna scoffed as though she couldn’t believe it. “This whole time, you could’ve been just… What did you call it? Patching these things?”

Ethan had to think about that for a second. He wasn’t sure he could’ve done it before. He truly didn’t know if his recent growth in power was to blame or if Luna was right. It hardly mattered though. The effect was immediate and overwhelmingly exciting.

“Woah, wait. He did it?” Finn asked, jogging over to check on the anomaly. “It was spewing just a few minutes ago.”

“See? The system needs a minute to spread the fix.” Ethan examined the array that made up the anomaly, finding that it was his fix that had been applied to it. “This is going to change the way we fix anomalies.”

“This is going to put us out of business,” Luna countered.

Ethan clenched his jaw. That wasn’t his intention, but that was the ultimate destination of this effort. But he couldn’t worry about the Anomalous Materials Group existing or not when it came to the anomalies themselves. By definition, they were things that didn’t belong in the world. They were errors driven by… something. Maybe if he could find the source of those errors, he could wipe them all out. But the scribe doubted he was in a position to edit the very planet itself.

“You know what this means.” Finn rubbed his hands together, eventually crossing over to Ethan with a big, stupid smile on his face. “Tavern.”

Ethan's first reaction to that was to decline the invitation. But he held his tongue. Avalara and Amelia were right. Making such quick progress was definitely intoxicating, but he had to take a moment and think, especially with the newest development, his ability to completely patch the anomalies. He forced himself to take a breath and appreciate his good work.

Of course, Finn knew a good tavern. The unfortunate part was that it was all the way at the Soul Deck Academy, which was currently experiencing nighttime. It didn't have the same daytime stabilization weirdness that the Silver City had. Although Ethan took a few notes of the sudden change in the sky's brightness, he filed them away in his bracelet for later review. To the scribes' surprise, the visit to the tavern wasn't just a way for Finn to drown his sorrows. It was a celebration of Ethan's accomplishment, one he didn't really feel very deserving of.  

"My class did most of it. It's not like I worked hard to figure out how to do this stuff." 

“Nonsense!” Finn slurred, already twelve beers deep. “Hero of Tal’vengar! Hero of the sector! Hero of—”

Finn fell to the ground with a loud thunk. Everyone gathered in the musty tavern laughed, but it opened an opportunity for Ethan and Luna to speak privately.

"Your situation isn't very different from many others. There are a lot of people who, some might call genius level with their paths. They outgrow the usefulness of the classes they take at the respective academies, which is why, of course, some classes are structured differently than others."

Ethan sipped the beer he had been offered. It was the first one, and it wasn't very good, but he didn't want to be impolite. So he pantomimed the act of drinking as he considered the thought, "All my foundation classes are that way. We've got two months of actual in-class time. A bunch of time where attending is apparently optional. I guess it makes sense. It gives people like me a chance to hone our skills before the next semester." He took a moment, eventually shaking his head when he thought about the adventurers he had met. “There were these two people… Gideon and Sybil. I can’t remember what grade they were in, but they were out there pilfering treasure from a dragon. Seems like some pretty advanced stuff to me.”

“See? Treat the academy as something to expand what you don’t know. After your first year, I suggest you take more esoteric classes.” Luna sipped on the water she had ordered, eventually pointing at the frothy class Ethan held in his hands. “I don’t know how you drink that swill.”

“I’m mostly faking it.” The moment Ethan said the words, he felt the same way about his class. Was he really just faking it, or was there skill behind his actions? He shook the thought away, as there was something more important to attend to. “Okay, Finn. Where do you live?”

“I know the spot. You get the left side, I’ll get the right.” Luna sighed as she stood, pulling Finn up from the ground.

“I love you guys,” Finn said.

Chapter 75

Runeweaver

Ethan dug his toes into the sand on the beach. It was a pleasant sunny day with a higher than normal temperature. The straw hat he wore on his head provided shade, and his palm-patterned swim trunks stood out against the medieval backdrop. The seamstress he had commissioned the trunks from was confused about their use, but he eventually convinced her they were just a fancy pair of underwear.

Relaxation was often best done when one wasn't forced to do so. But Ethan was forcing himself to relax. He dug his toes deeper in the sand, feeling the sun play against his pasty white legs that were already burning. He had no intention of stopping them. This was the beach-going experience. The only thing the area near the shore of Gale House was missing was throngs of tourists and maybe french fries. Also sunblock, but he doubted that would happen anytime soon.

The start of the weekend, Friday by Ethan's count, could have been filled with quite a few activities. But when he woke that morning, he realized he was close to a breaking point. He needed to visit Feyhammer House to watch some Enchanters at work. The scribe also had to catalogue the anomalies, selecting ones perfect for patching. Then there were the class changes and, of course, homework.

The sound of shoes crunching through the sand behind him came. By the amount of sand that was crunched, there was only one man who could have been responsible. Ethan nearly jumped when something cold pressed against his cheek. He looked up to see Barry, smiling and shirtless as ever. In his hand, he held a glass with perspiration dripping from the sides. Within was a gradient of red and white slush. The only thing it was missing was a small umbrella on the top, but some sort of fruit had been wedged onto the rim of the glass.

"This one doesn't have any alcohol. I don't know if you drink or not." Barry took a seat next to Ethan, nodding with approval as he described. He took the drink. He had his own, a mix of blue and purple that was perspiring just as badly.

“How did you…”

“Ice Mage and some crushed up candy… and some syrup stuff.” Barry shrugged. “You guys have tropical drinks on your planet?”

“Yeah.” Ethan took the first sip of his drink. It was like a smoothie… kinda. Whatever the actual contents, it was pretty good.

"We used to a long time ago, but the planet froze over." Barry laughed "I saw a picture of something like this in some print media, but I don't really know what was in it."

“Thanks all the same. This is delicious.”

“Heh. Maybe I’m in the wrong business.”

Ethan would love nothing more than to head over to the crafting house of the Academy and get introduced to a few enchanters. He had the thought that Barry himself might have an ability he could use for his enchanting efforts, but his legs weren't nearly sunburned enough. In about an hour, the damage from the sun would be enough for his satisfaction. Then they could go. For now, he was content to sit on that hot sand, the straw hat resting upon his head, doing little more than forcing him to sweat more than was comfortable.

Eventually, and reluctantly, he even left the beach. He had shared his hopes for the days with Barry, and the big man was more than happy to escort him over. It was a bit of an awkward situation where the leader of Feyhammer House, Headmaster Heldinmine, had been forced to give a very embarrassing apology to the scribe. He didn't want his relations with the house to be strained, so bringing along a star pupil might have helped ease that tension.

"I've worked with the Enchanters a few times.” Barry had a relaxed posture. His skin didn't seem to have been affected at all by the sun. Perhaps running around shirtless all the time had that effect on a person. "They are typically pretty secretive, but once I bring you around, they'll let you see whatever you want to see. Trust me."

Although Feyhammer House City wasn't very well organized, Ethan and Barry found their way through it just fine. There were sections of the city dedicated more toward practical crafts such as blacksmithing and leatherworking, and then the more eclectic crafts were on the outside. This, of course, included enchanting, which Ethan now realized he should have read up on more before coming there. At least he had a few enchanting books stored in his bracelet's memory.

Introductions to the Enchanters, within a low stone building that seemed to occupy several blocks, was awkward. It took Barry a bit too long to find somebody he knew. Once he did, the pair were welcomed in with open arms. Apparently, magitech wasn't something people came across every day. Just having somebody with such a strange crafting system was enough for them to get excited.

The building itself was organized more like a warehouse with a very open plan that gave Ethan a decent view of everything. Workspaces were partitioned by what could be described as temporary walls at best. Some places were only segmented by curtains hung from standing metal frames. Others didn’t care to hide their work, doing it out in the open. The entire time, the scribe observed, trying to pick out which class would work best for him.

One in particular stuck out. It looked a lot like ritual circles, except they were inscribed in mana that left a burning mark on the surface of whatever they touched with a small metal awl. Before long, Ethan found himself before a group of such people, all applying what they called Runeweaving to the surfaces of various objects.

"Well, you're right." A particularly eager-to-share worker in the building greeted Ethan with a wide smile. He looked mostly human, which strangely made him stand out among the gaggle of various races in the world. "Runeweaving is a lot like ritual magic. From what you said, it sounds like it'll do your job. Just make sure you have a decent power source or a separate sigil that draws power from the air. But what exactly are you trying to bind to a rune? Not everything will work, y’know?”

“Nothing big. Just the Spatial Expansion sigil.” Ethan delivered the news with a flat look.

The crafter looked back, blinking a few times before the smile returned to their face. “Oh! You’re joking! Haha. I get it. I get jokes.”

Ethan just smiled, his Celestial Pen springing to his hand. “Just need to take some notes…”

Ethan was quite familiar with the X-13 system at this point. Creating a sigil that represented the man was easy enough, but the next step wasn’t. The sigil frustratingly refused to lock into place until the scribe layered it with another. The reason as to the difficult was soon revealed in the form of a system message.

[System Emulation]

Would you like to emulate the X-13 system at Rank 2, Level 1, with the Runeweaver class?

Y/N

“Rank 2,” Ethan whispered to Barry, who gave him the thumbs-up.

There was only one ability Ethan needed from the class, so he got right to work on it. Unfortunately, it was an aspect of his class that he hadn't explored quite yet. Emulating spells was easy enough. He just needed to represent them with the appropriate sigils. The problem was that the method they were using to sketch the runes was an ability, not a spell. He watched them performing the action quite a few times and quickly gave up on emulating it through the use of his pen alone. Instead, he joined a more junior crafter using his pen to sketch out runes. The first few times he tried were abysmal. He was doing little more than sketching a ritual circle on the ground. That's when a young female student giggled at him.

"You need to put the concept of the ruin you're trying to sketch into your instrument. You'll know it's working when it burns through the ground."

That advice turned out to be excellent. Within an hour, Ethan had created a very crude version of the runes the others were sketching. Even the senior members of the room weavers came over to check his work, giving their pointers until he got it good enough to generate an ability. He felt it forming in his soul, the same way he felt it when he sketched the array for a spell out correctly. This one was more intuitive though, but it appeared in his spell list all the same.

[Sketch Rune]

Emulated Rank 1 Ability (X-13)

Description:

Channel mana into an enchanting instrument, creating rune patterns on almost any surface.

Effect:

The amount of mana channeled affects the quality of completed rune.

Understanding of runes increases the effectiveness of the resulting weave.

“Got it,” Ethan said, wiping the sweat from his brow. He turned to Barry with a cheesy smile on his face. “I can already feel that my System Sigil will fit.”

“Excellent!” Barry boomed. “Now, come on. I wanna show you something.”

Ethan didn't question it. He bid farewell to all the crafters who seemed a bit sad to see him go. The scribe himself felt kind of bad about using the interaction in a transactional nature but eventually shrugged it off. With the amount of systems he planned to emulate, he couldn’t get too attached to all the people he would meet. Anyway, the first stop on Barry’s tour was a food stall that sold an icing-glazed confection that was absolutely delicious. But that was apparently just to butter him up.

"We're gonna go check this cave out." Barry looked nervous as he delivered the proclamation. "I kind of have a claim on it. I mean, I bought a claim, and if it has some decent ore in it, then I'll save a ton of money fixing up my War Rig."

Ethan almost hid the wince that spread across his face, but Barry picked up on it right away. The scribe sighed and eventually shrugged. "I've been working on something, but it really hasn't borne fruit yet, so I might as well tell you I'm trying to get you a workshop. I make a lot of money fixing anomalies, and you know, I can pick out the properties that are haunted or that are permanently on fire and get them at a discount, but I think I got too involved when Alex left the anomalous materials group."

"If you want to throw a bunch of cash around on my behalf, I'm not going to tell you “no.” But I do have access to the public crafting areas. I guess it would be nice to have my own space though. The problem is that I only have so many hours a week that I can use the blacksmith shop. How much money do you think it would cost?"

That was the tricky part. Nathan was pretty sure he could get it for dirt cheap, maybe even free if he threw his weight around, but he had decided he was not that kind of guy. "It's impossible to say. It depends on the severity of the anomaly. At worst, I think we can get you an empty lot for like a thousand coins."

Barry's laugh boomed loud enough through the surrounding roads that passersby stopped and looked. "That's it? I crap a thousand coins a day just on materials. If you think you could get one that cheap, I'll buy it from you."

“I’ll even help you build something on the empty property.”

Barry tilted his head, giving Ethan a skeptical look. “No offense, but you’re about as weak as they come. Didn’t take you for the building type.”

Ethan couldn’t hide the smug look that spread across his features. “We’ll see about that. I have the notes from a Creation Magic Font. Who knows what I can make with that.”

“Oh, damn. Big man over here with his big spells. Anyway, to the cave!”